My mom visited me last week, spending nine days in our luxurious, spacious guest nook. She returned to Nebraska Monday morning, and I'm now on day 2 of exhaustion. I may write more on her visit later. But don't count on it.

While she was here, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (just 3 blocks away, on 7th and Mission) declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. Upon learning of this, my immediate reaction was that this was good news. Mom's immediate reaction was that it most certainly was not.

Naturally, the decision sparked a furor of debate and condemnation. (Not between my mom and me!! Though I don't know why her immediate reaction was unfavorable, nor do I know whether it was immediately thoughtfully unfavorable or immediately thoughtlessly unfavorable... maybe it's a generational thing. But how interesting, if it is generational. "Under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, ten years after my mom was born. And it was not added as a declaration of faith, but as a means to distance our nation from those (godless) communist nations that were so scary back then. Anyway, it certainly is no longer applicable. Not to mention, it goes against our American ideology - that our nation is not monotheistic, and our freedom of religion includes freedom from religion as well. So here we have a good case for upholding tradition. Let's go back to the traditional Pledge of Allegiance, and get rid of this new, modern, anti-Communist one!)

But back to my point, which was? Oh yeah, condemnation and furor... commentators, editorialists, talk show hosts, and even the president have condemned the decision and criticzed the father and daughter (who brought the original lawsuit) as being thin-skinned, overly-sensitive, and whiny.

But also in the news this week is the story of a high school senior in Alabama who was beaten for refusing to recite the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of the school day. Students claimed that his refusal to recite the pledge somehow rendered them unable to recite it as well. NOW who is being thin-skinned, overly-sensitive, and whiny?

And the question is, can the government force a person to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance?

Well, the government forces us to pay taxes. And with our tax money, the government is paying for his schooling.

So, yes. I suppose the government can force a person to stand up and declare allegiance to the state.

But such governments are authoritarian. Such governments do not hold themselves constitutionally responsible to the people, or individuals, but instead enforce blind submission to authority.

Do we not pay taxes to preserve our democracy? To keep our country running, to maintain our infrastructure, and yes, to fight wars... but is it not to preserve the democracy? That's what our president keeps saying...

Or is that just a bunch of lip service, when we actually find our personal freedoms at issue?

Is dissent, including (and especially) when unpopular and individual, not also a form of preserving the democracy?